You’ve been waiting on pins and needles for the first episode of this season’s Devon Kershaw Show; we know. But it’s been a busy spring. This edition was recorded a couple of weeks ago, so apologies we’re not up to speed on all the latest developments, but we break down some retirements and other off-season news and we’ll be back soon with some discussion of equal distance racing and other news. You can email us...
Adam Martin’s skiing has always tended to be best described in conjunctions rather than disjunctions. He could do this and he would do that. Or, that’s always how his mentors looked at it. My most distinct memory of Martin is from a CXC (Central Cross Country Skiing) camp about a decade ago when Sten Fjeldheim, then Martin’s coach at Northern Michigan University (NMU), gathered a group of us J2s (U16) around in the lobby of...
Anyone who has had the pleasure of interacting with Katharine Ogden, also commonly known as KO, can tell you that she is humorous, kind, and thoughtful – both in regard to others as well as in her own self-introspection. She is also a wicked good skier, proving herself both nationally and internationally in competition. Ogden recently shared that she was stepping away from professional skiing, having already experienced a range of career ups and downs...
Each year at the conclusion of the race season, there are always a few athletes who hang up their skis and step away from professional racing. The end of the four year Olympic cycle inevitably means a higher concentration of such announcements. Whether it was a fourth or a first appearance at the Games, or a near miss, the Olympics are always a target and their completion provides a good moment to move on. While...
Part I of this article examined Sadie Maubet Bjornsen’s childhood, World Cup debut, and the injuries that she overcame along the way. This article, Part II, starts with a frank look at some of the challenges of being an American World Cup skier, then discusses her overall career highlights, her final World Championships earlier this year, and what comes next. In addition to the injuries, there are some challenges to life on the World Cup...
To classic ski, and to do so well, requires an athlete to perform an almost stupidly large number of tasks at the same time. You have to move two arms, two legs, and two ankles in alternation, in almost infinite variations depending upon the snow, the wax, the course, and your remaining energy. You have to mediate between power and finesse, kick and glide, stimulus and weight transfer. In short, you have to balance a...
View this post on Instagram Moving West! I’m excited to share that I have decided to transition away from full time skiing to start a new career as a renewable energy developer in Denver CO. Thank you for being part of my journey skiing. I am so grateful for all the opportunities I’ve had in this amazing sport and I can’t wait for my next chapter in skiing to begin. See you out on the...
As winter wanes and spring looms, many athletes choose to announce the bittersweet change of their own season of life, retirement from the sport to embark on a new pursuit. This March, after seven seasons on the U.S. Ski Team, 31-year-old Ida Sargent decided the time had come for something new. “I knew after Sochi that I wanted to go to one more Olympics,” Sargent told FasterSkier in a call. “So at that point, I...
At the conclusion of last season in late March, German cross-country national team member Tim Tscharnke still Norwegian gold-medal duo of Petter Northug and Øystein Pettersen. At the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Tscharnke and teammate Hannes Dotzler nearly took another medal in the team sprint, winning their semifinal and leading a three-person group in the final, before Tscharnke
After several years on Canada's Senior Development Team, Alysson Marshall, 27, has decided to put down her skis and pursue her next dream: a career in family medicine.
Last week, Norwegian national-team staple Kristin Størmer Steira announced her retirement following a dozen years on the World Cup. "I’ve experienced so much as a cross-country skier and I love ski racing, but the time has come to find a new track," she said in a press release. "And that won’t be a ski track."
The following is a tribute to a high-school coach who impacted hundreds of young skiers in Glens Falls, N.Y., over the last 30-plus years, submitted by a former athlete.
Kristin Størmer Steira's in the game for another season, but she's not so sure what the next four years hold -- definitely some school and not another Olympics. "I learned from my earlier mistakes saying this is my last year, but I don’t think longer than Falun ... we’ll see," she says in an exclusive interview.
Chandra Crawford stuck with skiing long after winning gold as a U23 at the 2006 Olympics because she remembered when Beckie Scott and Sara Renner explained "it would take ten years to get good." She committed, and after three Olympics, Crawford, 30, retired from the sport to pursue higher education -- cutting right to the chase with an MBA to better serve Fast and Female.
It turns out Daria Gaiazova took her final international cross-country ski race where her career all began – in her native Russia at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. The dual citizen, who along with teammate Ivan Babikov had the rare opportunity to race back-to-back home Games in Canada and Russia, has decided to call it a career.
When Leif Zimmermann first got into skiing at age 13, he had no idea where it would take him. He quickly rose to Junior World and U.S. nationals success, making the U.S. Ski Team, World Cups, 2006 Olympics, and 2009 World Championships before retiring from the sport this spring.
Come celebrate Ned Zuelsdorff's final weeks as executive director of the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation with a send-off party on May 10. All are welcome!
Last week, Johnny Spillane announced his retirement after well over a decade on the U.S. Nordic Combined Team. The four-time Olympian explains why he decided to call it a career before the 2014 Winter Games.